Day 6: Luther Gets to the Point

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. Luther's explanation of and comments on the first article of the Creed: "I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my limbs, my reason, and all my senses, and still preserves them; in addition thereto, clothing and shoes, meat adn drink, house and homestead, wife and children, fields, cattle, and all my goods; that He provides me richly and daily wiht all that I need to support this body and life, protects me from all danger, and guards me and preserves me from all evil; and all this out of pure, fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me; for all which I owe it to Him to thank, praise, serve, and obey Him. This is most certainly true...Here we could say much... how few there are that believe this article. For we all pass over it, hear it and say it, but neither see nor consider what the words teach us. For if we believed it with the heart, we would act accordingly, and not stalk about proudly, act defiantly, and boasts as through we had life, riches, power, and honor, ets. of ourselves, so that others must serve us, as is the practice of the wretched, perverse world, whidh is drowned in blindness, and abuses all good things and gifts of God only for its own pride, avarice, lust, and luxury, and never once regards God, so as to thank or acknowledge God as Lord and Creator.Therefore, this article ought to humble and terrify us all, if we believed it. For we sin daily with eyes, ears, hands, body and soul, money and possessions, and with everything we have..." To Ponder:

- We can always count on Luther to get to ask the hard questions. How do Luther's words strike us? Do hey convict us? Do they inspire us? Both? So what... where do we go from here?Prayer:All-knowing God, it is true that I often think that it is my hard work that is responsible for my success, and I forget that the gifts and abilities I have first come from you. Help me to be faithful in using my gifts, to give back to you generously in thanksgiving, and to remember to always give you glory. Amen. .